Dirt Fishin Dale
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This was in a paper in the Palm Beach area.
Sand mine holds ancient fossils
By Anthony Westbury
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Some days there's no knowing which direction life will take you. Occasionally that's a very good thing.
That was the case Wednesday when I drove to St. Lucie West to interview a gentleman who's been digging up ancient shells and fossils right in his neighborhood.
John Brown, 81, jokingly refers to himself as a "senile scavenger."
"I've been digging things up for 70 years," he says with a big smile.
Most of that was in New Jersey, where Brown prowled the beaches with his metal detector. He shows off a series of driftwood panels adorned with hundreds of found items ranging from class rings to gold teeth.
Lately, Brown has become fascinated by old shells and the occasional fossil bones he's excavated near his Kings Isle home. "It's amazing to me that we're walking on stuff that's millions of years old," he marvels, holding up a black mastodon tooth the size of a small orange.
And recently, he tells me, he's discovered a mother lode of fossils in northern St. Lucie County. Would I like to see it? We hit I-95.
Trouble is, the shells and fossils are actually on private property, Brown warns me. Turns out, it's very private indeed — as in a very active rock mine with huge trucks kicking up clouds of dust and threatening to mow us down.
No sooner do we spot a small mound of shells and Brown delightedly exits his car, than a man in white pickup truck slides to a halt.
Rick Stewart turns out to be the CEO of the mine. He listens patiently to our explanations of why we're technically trespassing. But he also offers me a quick guided tour of what's going on with all those piles of rock and sand and shells.
There's some irony here, it turns out.
Stewart Mining Industries is digging down about 45 feet in 15-foot-deep layers. Huge trucks cart off the top layer of sand and silt. Lower down there's coquina rock, composed of thousands of tiny seashells, which is used for road bases, Stewart tells me. The lowest layer, at least a million years old, includes the shells and fossils Brown is lusting after.
This material is the remains of an ancient shoreline, Stewart tells me. Prehistoric dunes from the Pleistocene era ran north-south here, about a dozen miles inland from today's beaches. There are 25-foot high piles containing millions of whelk and conch shells, and considerably fewer dark lumps. Those are ancient fossilized bones, including the mastodon teeth and even the remains of ancient trees.
Stewart explains the irony. The top layer of sand, once it's graded and screened to remove the largest lumps, is busily being trucked out to replenish beaches in Indian River, St. Lucie and Palm Beach counties. I guess you could call that the ultimate act of recycling. Life's a beach, over and over again.
Stewart smiles when I ask if he's in favor of beach renourishment. "Let's just say it's not bad for business," he concedes.
We returned to Mr. Brown with a bucketful of shells and fossils. He wants to know if the company ever allows schoolkids to visit. Stewart explains the safety issues involved in running a mine. But, yes, he would consider allowing field trips if they could be prearranged.
I hope they can work out some trips like that. Brown is right, it is pretty neat bouncing up and down in the palm of your hand things older than dinosaurs.
Older than dirt, too, I guess.
Sand mine holds ancient fossils
By Anthony Westbury
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Some days there's no knowing which direction life will take you. Occasionally that's a very good thing.
That was the case Wednesday when I drove to St. Lucie West to interview a gentleman who's been digging up ancient shells and fossils right in his neighborhood.
John Brown, 81, jokingly refers to himself as a "senile scavenger."
"I've been digging things up for 70 years," he says with a big smile.
Most of that was in New Jersey, where Brown prowled the beaches with his metal detector. He shows off a series of driftwood panels adorned with hundreds of found items ranging from class rings to gold teeth.
Lately, Brown has become fascinated by old shells and the occasional fossil bones he's excavated near his Kings Isle home. "It's amazing to me that we're walking on stuff that's millions of years old," he marvels, holding up a black mastodon tooth the size of a small orange.
And recently, he tells me, he's discovered a mother lode of fossils in northern St. Lucie County. Would I like to see it? We hit I-95.
Trouble is, the shells and fossils are actually on private property, Brown warns me. Turns out, it's very private indeed — as in a very active rock mine with huge trucks kicking up clouds of dust and threatening to mow us down.
No sooner do we spot a small mound of shells and Brown delightedly exits his car, than a man in white pickup truck slides to a halt.
Rick Stewart turns out to be the CEO of the mine. He listens patiently to our explanations of why we're technically trespassing. But he also offers me a quick guided tour of what's going on with all those piles of rock and sand and shells.
There's some irony here, it turns out.
Stewart Mining Industries is digging down about 45 feet in 15-foot-deep layers. Huge trucks cart off the top layer of sand and silt. Lower down there's coquina rock, composed of thousands of tiny seashells, which is used for road bases, Stewart tells me. The lowest layer, at least a million years old, includes the shells and fossils Brown is lusting after.
This material is the remains of an ancient shoreline, Stewart tells me. Prehistoric dunes from the Pleistocene era ran north-south here, about a dozen miles inland from today's beaches. There are 25-foot high piles containing millions of whelk and conch shells, and considerably fewer dark lumps. Those are ancient fossilized bones, including the mastodon teeth and even the remains of ancient trees.
Stewart explains the irony. The top layer of sand, once it's graded and screened to remove the largest lumps, is busily being trucked out to replenish beaches in Indian River, St. Lucie and Palm Beach counties. I guess you could call that the ultimate act of recycling. Life's a beach, over and over again.
Stewart smiles when I ask if he's in favor of beach renourishment. "Let's just say it's not bad for business," he concedes.
We returned to Mr. Brown with a bucketful of shells and fossils. He wants to know if the company ever allows schoolkids to visit. Stewart explains the safety issues involved in running a mine. But, yes, he would consider allowing field trips if they could be prearranged.
I hope they can work out some trips like that. Brown is right, it is pretty neat bouncing up and down in the palm of your hand things older than dinosaurs.
Older than dirt, too, I guess.
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